We recently had the pleasure of interviewing Michael DiTullo, Creative Director of the global innovation firm, frog design, and alumnus of the Industrial Design Department here at RISD, for our ID Sketching Series. From starting his career at Evo Design to developing several product collections at Nike Inc, DiTullo has had extensive experience in bringing products from concept to reality.
DiTullo’s passion for design, in its effect, value, and various approaches can be seen throughout all of his work. From an initial ideation sketch to an advanced concept, his work shows a glimpse into his thought process and an insight into his consideration for all aspects of design. This past year, DiTullo published a book, titled “Analog Dreams: The sketches of Michael DiTullo”, which compiles years of sketches done by DiTullo as well as his thoughts on how to improve skills in rapid visualization and visual communication. Also look for him in Sophie Lovell’s book, “As Little Design As Possible: The Work of Dieter Rams”.
Where are you from?
I grew up about two hours north of New York City, on the Hudson River. We lived near a lot of apple farms and it felt very x-urban. Being in the middle of nowhere before the Internet, you had to learn how to entertain yourself. Some kids liked to get into trouble; I liked to draw a lot. Every few months, a massive Sears catalog would arrive in the mail. It had everything you could possibly imagine in it. One of my favorite things to do when I got home from school was to open that catalog to a random page and imagine what was on it might be like 25 years in the future… I’ve always had a strange idea of what fun is.
The interesting thing about growing up in the Hudson Valley is that even though it is somewhat remote, you can almost feel the gravity of New York City. I always had this sense that there was this very massive, very different world out there and I knew I would experience it. I’ve lived all over the place and travelled the world as a designer.
Why did you decide to become a designer?
I don’t think anyone really decides to be a designer, they realize they are one. Designer is not a job description or a title, it is a person. No degree or business card can make someone a designer. It is not what I am, it is who I am. I realized what design was when I was about 13. I had found a newpaper article on Giorgetto Giugiaro, and immediately recognized that as my future. I love to collect origin stories from designers. Back in the 70’s and 80’s there was not a lot of public knowledge about design. There was no internet, and book stores didn’t tend to have as many art and design books back then. So I find that designers that discovered design then all have very unique stories. The one commonality tends to be that once they learned about it, it tends to be a lightning bolt of realization that determines their path in the world.
What do you like to sketch with?
It really doesn’t matter. Whatever is closest to be honest. I tend to like to sketch on cheap bond paper. I don’t like sketch books, because I like to hang the sketches up right away, step back from them, get other peoples thoughts. When you work in a studio, sharing is key. The more open and collaborative or working methods can be, the faster we get to the better solutions. I tend to vary mediums a lot as way of physically switching to a different idea. I usually travel with a stack of loose 8.5×11 copy paper in a binder clip. I also like to play with tools that are intentionally hard to use like a pen that bleeds, just to see what happens… I do have a slight preference for prismacolor pencils… though lately I’ve been sketching digitally a lot on my iPad using the Sketchbook Pro app and a More/Real stylus. I also have a Wacom Cintiq monitor.
Below, DiTullo runs us through a few shots of how he starts with an original thumbnail (in this case, a sketch that came from an ideation session on mobile healthcare), and, in the video below, a tutorial into how he develops that sketch from start to finish.
A layout of DiTullo’s desk before starting a sketch consists of white bond paper, two black Fine Point Sharpies, three black BIC Velocity pens, two white Prismacolor pencils, one white Prismacolor Nupastel, and Prismacolor Markers in Cool Grey 10%, 20%, 30%, 50%, 70%, Cold Stone, Light Cerulean, Deco Blue, Poppy, and Crimson, a Rocko straightedge, and ellipse guide.
What influences your sketching?
Everything. My wife, Kristina, is an artist, and also a RISD grad (’96 IL). I’m always tagging along with her to museums and gallery shows and soaking up ingredients from everything I see. We tend to hang out with an diverse crew of creatives; designers of all types, artists, musicians, architects, inventors, engineers… being immersed in a creative culture, I am always picking up something from here and putting it over there. I’m not an academic person in my approach to life and work. I don’t have much respect for process or methodology. I like to experiment freely, break things, misuse, appropriate, sample and mix.
For me, design is a lot like surfing. You can’t plan to catch a wave, you can only plan to be out in the water. You paddle out with nothing but your board and all the prior experiences you have. You feel the swells, the rises, and when it feels right, you go for it. We are all out there in the same water feeling the same waves. Some of us are able to catch a few, and even fewer are able to do something special with it.
Are there any websites or places you go for sketch inspiration?
I love flipping through old advertisements. I have a few books on advertising illustrations from the 50’s and 60’s. The way they would portray an emotion or convey and idea by carefully selecting a perspective, a color, a composition was amazing. When I was in school, we still drafted mostly by hand with a parallel rule. You can always tell designers who came up doing things analog. There was no Ctrl Z, so you had to really plan out the drawing before hand, doing studies, constructing a perspective, little shading tests, as if you were about to paint a masterpiece. I think designers who came up this way are very attached to the feel of the materials, and approach even an intermediate sketch as a little piece of art.
When I was early in my career, I would obsessively study the way people would successfully convey an idea visually. I had a binder full of photocopies, photographs, and torn pages of books and magazines of other people’s sketches. After work, I would go home and study them and try to break down what exactly they were thinking to discover why they set the image up a particular way. I would practice over and over again. At that time, I was particularly fascinated by Frank Lloyd Wright’s sketches, both his early high contrast ink drawings and his later soft colored pencil work. I was very into Syd Mead as well, and had an opportunity to meet him and get a book signed when he gave a lecture at Brown University. Joe Johnston was also a huge influence. He could convey something very complex with a few cool grey marker strokes and a ballpoint pen. Richard Powell was also a big early influence.
This may all seem rather obsessive, especially for someone who believes a sketch is nothing without a central idea. I never wanted technique to get in the way. I never wanted an idea to be limited by an inability to convey it. I’ve found that if you can communicate anything, you are truly open to pursue whatever you dream of.
What is the biggest consideration when you start a sketch?
A sketch, as beautiful as it might be, is not important on its own. It is a snapshot of a thought at a particular moment in development. So the most central purpose of a sketch is to communicate an idea. Therefore, my biggest consideration is always the idea. It does not need to be fully developed, it might work itself out on the page, but there has to ne the seed of something that I want to communicate to someone else. Once I work the idea out on the page, I can then sketch it again, this time fully thinking through what the best views are to explain it and make it more compelling.
What is in your sketchbook?
Even though I don’t prefer sketchbooks, I do carry one. As my team knows, I’m an almost compulsive doodler. I can’t sit still for five minutes without starting to draw on or over something. Often I’ll work through some thoughts I might have on the projects we have in the studio. I will sketch and re-sketch a design countless times until I get it resolved as best it can be. Or I’ll just start redesigning whatever happens to be in front of me. Often when I am invited to do student critiques, I’ll bring a stack of paper with me and sketch out how I would have resolved their project while they are presenting… I’m not sure if they like it our not… likewise, when reviewing work in the studio, I’m always overlaying the teams work, or doodling out details to help them resolve an aspect of something, and I encourage other people to do the same on my sketches. The sketches are not precious. They are visual conversations.
What advice would you give to young designers who are interested in learning how to sketch or sketch better?
You have to do it every day. I’ve been sketching almost every day since I was 13. When I got my first fulltime design position at Evo, I was sketching for about 9-10 hours every day. To get really good, to be fluent in the visual language, you need to speak it every day until you can literally think on the page. Don’t worry about being good at first, concentrate on saying something. Your first 2,000 sketches will be total crap, so get those out of the way as fast as possible. If you do 6 sketches a day you will be done with those in a year.
I picked up a few tricks from mentors along the way. When you wake up, before breakfast, or your shower, do one sketch of whatever is on the top of your mind. Carry a sketchbook or pen and paper everywhere. When you start to have the inkling of an idea, sketch it immediately. Look around at things you admire and imagine how the sketch for that might have looked. Experiment with different mediums. Sketch with others. Bouncing ideas around in a group always helps you to learn faster. Steal from those that are better than you, the point of a sketch is not to have original technique, but original ideas!
Why do you think sketching is an important tool for designers?
Sketching is the fastest way to communicate a complicated idea. The fidelity of a sketch is perfect for provoking conversation. It communicates much more of an idea at a glance than words can, yet it is abstract enough to be interpreted. It is finalized enough to seem valid, yet unfinished enough to be refined. Sketches are a human manifestation of an idea. We are hard wired to take abstract two dimensional data and read complex thought into. It is the reason why our first written languages where cave paintings and pictograms, and it is the reason why we the sketch endures today. I talk more about in my book, Analog Dreams.
What have you been sketching lately?
Oh everything. We have been very busy with a wide variety of projects, so I’ve been thinking about a lot of different things, and if I’m thinking about it, I’m sketching it. All different types of computing systems and physical interfaces with them from those used on large screens, to mobile devices, to wearable devices. Lots of consumer electronics that connect with people and culture on a deeper level. I’ve also been working on some footwear and automotive projects for different markets around the globe.
What are you working on now?
I’m always doing a lot of things at once. If I don’t have enough going on, I start to get stir crazy. In addition to multiple projects at work and for myself, I’m collaborating with our Chief Creative Officer on an amazing future of transportation program. I continue to write for core77.com and designmind and speak at universities and design conferences around the world. I’m always traveling somewhere for work or for fun. My next few trips will be San Diego, Portland, Palm Springs, then London… And I’m looking forward to the new seasons of Portlandia and Mad Men…
